Welcome to TalkLeft, the on-line source for liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news.

TalkLeft was created by Denver-based criminal defense attorney Jeralyn Merritt in 2000 as a companion site to CrimeLynx, the criminal defense practitioner's Guide to the Internet. In June, 2002, TalkLeft was converted into a weblog. Since then, it has received more than 10 million visitors.

TalkLeft is not a neutral site. Our mission is to intelligently and thoroughly examine issues, candidates and legislative initiatives as they pertain to constitutional rights, particularly those of persons accused of crime.

Talkleft is intended for the public, journalists covering crime-based news and politics, policy makers and of course, the criminal defense community.

TalkLeft was a unique voice in the 2000, 2002 and 2004 elections, as it will be in 2006, concentrating on exposing injustices in the criminal justice system and, in particular, those of the current administration.

TalkLeft is written by Jeralyn Merritt, with frequent contributions by T. Christopher Kelly of Madison, WI and occasional contributions by John Wesley Hall, Jr. of Little Rock, AR, who also writes daily at Fourth Amendment.com.

Your suggestions and comments are always welcome.

Murray Waas, one of the most reliable Plamegate reporters since the beginning of this sordid story, has a long and juicy column today at the National Journal. The first part of the article relates to possible perjury charges against Lewis "Scooter" Libby as a result of discrepancies between his and Judith Miller's grand jury testimony, particularly with respect to their July 8 meeting and June 23 conversation.

Far more interesting and significant are the many details Murray so cogently puts together on whether Libby tried either to discourage Miller from testifying or to influence her testimony so it would match what he told the grand jury.

If grand jurors believe that Libby tried to influence Miller's testimony, not only could it result in an obstruction of justice or witness tampering charge, it could make them distrustful of everything Libby told them. Put another way, in instances in which the grand jury has to weigh Libby's version against that of other witnesses, the grand jury might decide that someone who tried to discourage another witness from testifying probably did so because he had done something wrong-- like lie -- rather than because he forgot about a conversation or its details.

This week and next are going to be traffic-busters on liberal weblogs. I can't think of a better time to have your message or product get across to the largest number of blog readers ever.

Here's the link to Advertising Liberally, where you can select the blogs on which to advertise in one fell swoop. If it's law blogs you're looking for, check out the non-partisan Law Blog Ad Network (not to be confused with Progressive Law Blogs which does not have advertising.)

And a note to blog readers: Many of us bloggers are not getting much work done this week with PlameGate. Blogging may become full-time over the next several days. I'm sure your favorite bloggers who accept donations would all appreciate a little help this week.

Here is TalkLeft's donation page:

You don't need a paypal account. Even small contributions are most welcome.

NBC Reporter David Schuster just said on Hardball that the grand jury will be meeting two more days this week and maybe into next week. Since any indictments won't be public until they are done, it doesn't look like tomorrow is the day.

If there are last minute plea deals, the details will be contained in written plea agreements. For any deals that involve reduced charges from those the grand jury might otherwise indict on, Fitzgerald will want the deals iron-clad and signed before releasing this grand jury. If a deal falls through, he'll need to have the grand jury still in session to issue a last minute indictment.

Also, the grand jury could still be hearing evidence from officials who are making last minute deals.

The AP reports that Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff has declared open war on undocumented residents.

Atrios responds:

There's nothing necessarily wrong with a general policy of expelling illegal immigrants, aside from the cost of course, although it's important to remember that plenty of illegals have perfectly legal children and/or spouses. But I don't look forward to living in a "show your papers please" society.

Me neither. Nor should local police be used to enforce immigration laws. As to how Chertoff intends to accomplish his goal, here's the predictable answer. More jails.

Arianna continues on her Judy mission with this latest that includes a photo of Arianna, Judy and others amongst the Aspen trees, right after having heard Karl Rove marvel at how we would be hailed as liberators in Iraq. Take a minute and read it.

Say hello to the brand new Progressive Law Blogs aggregator site. In one place, you can find the latest posts by:

US News and World Report says rumors of Cheney's impending resignation are flying around DC - as well as speculation Bush would appoint Condi Rice to replace him - and wouldn't that be the ultimate Machiavellian move?

I don't buy it. I think this will be Cheney's position to the very end. [hat tip Patriot Daily.]

I suspect Fitzgerald and the RoveGate participants are busy writing plea agreements and making arrangements to surrender to authorities - and that major news won't break until late this afternoon or even later this week. So, I'm heading back to work.

For major newsbreaks, keep checking Huffington Post and Raw Story. For video replays, head over to Crooks and Liars. For a roundup of opinions on both sides, head to Gabe Rivera's Memeorandum, and congrats to Gabe for this very flattering and true Tech Station article about his site. My favorite line, of course, is this one:

Gabe Rivera has built a website seamlessly driven by a proprietary algorithm which fuses blogs and MSM stories into a one page intersection of instant commentary lined up with political news and tech news. This is fresh. The algorithm updates every five minutes. It covers opinion: where else can you see TalkLeft and Powerline on the same page. It's a very quick read. And, amazingly, it is largely automatic.

The New York Times also has a roundup of blogger posts on PlameGate. No need to stick to that topic though, this thread's for you. For an assortment, don't miss Cursor.

Raw Story reports that Cheney Aide John Hannah is cooperating with Fitzgerald. If it's true, I'm not surprised. In John Hannah and Lewis Libby Still Key in Plame Probe, I wrote:

I think this UPI article by Richard Sale from February 5, 2004 is right on the money.

Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers has submitted her questionnaire.

In 1989, she pledged support for the Human Life Amendment.

The abortion issue hangs over Miers' nomination much as it did over the appointment of Chief Justice John Roberts earlier this year. The situations are different, however — Roberts replaced the late William Rehnquist, who voted to overturn the 1973 abortion ruling. Miers would succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has voted to uphold it.

"A candidate taking a political position in the course of a campaign is different from the role of a judge making a ruling in the judicial process." said Jim Dyke, a White House spokesman.

In interviews with Senators, she has denied telling anyone how she would vote on Roe v. Wade.

Reuters is speculating that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald may be offering putative defendants one last chance to make a deal in the Valerie Plame investigation.

The prosecutor investigating the outing of a covert CIA operative has yet to say whether he will bring charges, but he has decided to announce decisions in the case in Washington rather than Chicago, where he is based, his spokesman said on Monday....It is unusual for Fitzgerald's office to offer comment on any aspect of the case and Monday's statement led some observers to wonder if it might be a signal that a decision was imminent or that Fitzgerald was trying to increase pressure on potential targets to cut a deal.

It has to be a tempting offer for several of them.